| 释义 |
▪ I. scupper, n.|ˈskʌpə(r)|
Forms: 5 skopor, skopper, 6 scopper, 7 scuper, scopeboard (erron.), 7–8 scoper, skupper, 6– scupper.
[Of disputed etymology.
Some regard it as an agent-n. f. scoop v. (sense 1); others as an adoption of an AF. derivative of OF. escopir to spit. Cf. G. speigat scupper, f. speien to spit.]
1. a. Naut. Chiefly pl. An opening in a ship's side on a level with the deck to allow water to run away.
1485,1497[see scupper-nail, -leather, in 2]. 1592W. Wyrley Armorie, Ld. Chandos 34 Voiding scoppers voided out their bloud. 1622Drayton Poly-olb. xviii. 418 The whilst those mightie Ships out of their scuppers pour'd Their trayterous cluttred gore. 1669–79T. B[ateman] Asia lf. 48 With girdlines from the said cradle to her ports or Scopeboards. 1748Anson's Voy. iii. iv. 443 We made a great quantity of water through our hawse-holes, ports and scuppers. 1834Marryat P. Simple xxxv, Every scupper of her running blood and water. 1883Stevenson Treas. Isl. iii. xiii, The Hispaniola was rolling scuppers under in the ocean swell.
†b. Used for: A pump. ? nonce-use.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. To Rdr. 2 Whereas coniectures are certain detections of things vnknowne..I have alwaies thought that they were to be accounted among the skuppers [orig. inter autlias] wherewith Time worketh and draweth Veritie out of Democritus his deepe dungeon.
c. fig. coarse slang. A depreciatory term for a woman, esp. a prostitute.
1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 102/2 Scupper, a prostitute. 1970G. Greer Female Eunuch 265 More familiar terms in current usage refer to women as receptacles for refuse,..as tramp, scow, scupper. 1972F. Warner Lying Figures iv. 40 Sapph You were always firm... Laz Your limbs and trunk were in angles of contingency. Sapph I was your scupper.
2. attrib. and Comb., as scupper-hole, -hose, -leather, -nail, -shoot (see quots.).
c1590E. Wright in Hakluyt's Voy. (1599) II. ii. 163 Euery *scupper-hole, and other place where it [sc. rain] ranne downe. 1702Milit. & Sea Dict. (1711), Skuppers, or Skupper-Holes are the Holes close to all the Decks, through the Ship's sides, through which the Water runs out of the Ship from the Decks. 1903H. Clifford Free Lance x. 82 Her scupper-holes spouting.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v., The scuppers of the lower deck of a ship of war are usually furnished with a leathern pipe, called the *scupper-hoase, which hangs downward from the mouth or opening of the scuppers. The intent of this is to prevent the water from entering, when the ship inclines under a weight of sail.
1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 298 *Skopperlethers & Skoppernayles. 1702Milit. & Sea Dict. ii. (1711), Skupper-Leathers are the round Leathers nail'd over the Skupper-Holes,..which keep out the Sea-Water from coming in, and yet let any Water run out from the Deck.
1485Cely Papers (Camden) 180 For ijc *skopor nayll vjd. 1702Milit. & Sea Dict. ii. (1711), Skupper-Nails, are little short Nails, with broad Heads, made on purpose to nail on the Skupper Leathers. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 135 Scupper nails.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Scupper-shoots, metal or wooden tubes which carry the water from the decks of frigates to the sea-level.
▪ II. scupper, v.|ˈskʌpə(r)|
[perh. f. prec. n., but the connexion of meaning is not clear.]
a. trans. To surprise and massacre. Mil. slang.
1885Pall Mall Gaz. 2 Apr. 3/2 The fierce warriors who ‘scupper’ Tommy Atkins within the lines of Suakin. 1885St. James's Gaz. 31 Mar. 4/1 Being quietly chopped to pieces in their beds, or ‘scuppered’, as some grim wits have termed it. 1896Kipling Seven Seas 98 We preach in advance of the Army, We skirmish ahead of the Church, With never a gunboat to help us When we're scuppered and left in the lurch. 1896Daily News 19 May 8/1 It was pretty much like a ‘scuppering’ surprise in the Eastern Soudan. 1902Blackw. Mag. Mar. 333 It's a great relief to find that advance squadron hasn't been scuppered.
b. colloq. To defeat, ruin, destroy, put an end to.
a1918[see knock v. 14 a]. 1948[see ditch v.1 6 c]. 1957Economist 19 Oct. 235/1 The suspicion is still alive that there would have been secret rejoicing in Whitehall if the French Assembly had scuppered the common market. 1957L. Durrell Justine iii. 155 You can help us scupper them, old man. 1962Times 2 Mar. 4/2 Underwood followed up his kick ahead and, when scuppered, found Rogers, as ever, there for a try at the post. 1974Times 7 Feb. 14/8 If the Government wants to welsh on its promise, it will have to scupper Mr Money's Bill. 1981W. Winward Ball Bearing Run iv. 51 ‘We're scuppered,’ said Fallon... It was a crushing blow.
Senses a, b in Dict. become 1, 2. For etym. read: [f. scupper n. The connection is perh. explained by Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words (1925) s.v. Scuppered: A man killed in action or falling in heavy weather would naturally roll into the scuppers.] Add: 3. To sink (a vessel) deliberately; = scuttle v.2 1 a (with which it is sometimes confused).
1976Oxf. Compan. Ships & Sea 763/2 Scupper,..deliberately to sink a ship by opening the seacocks in her hull or by blowing a hole in her side below the waterline. It has, presumably, the same general origin as scuttle. 1982Summary World Broadcasts: Soviet Union 31 Mar. A1/10 ‘Explosives!’ one of the sailors guessed. ‘They are going to scupper the ship. But why?’ 1988Daily Tel. 24 Dec. 9/1 Hitler's 89ft custom-built yacht, Ostwind, is to be scuppered by..a marine company chief on whose property..the battered relic of the Third Reich was abandoned. |